Walking doll



March 24, 1964 R. K. OSTRANDER 3,125,829

WALKING DOLL Filed April 6, 1962 rfiasser K. Oswanvse $145 414a ar United States Patent 3,125,329 WALKING DQLL Robert K. Ostrander, 497 Prospect St, Maplewood, NJ. Fiied Apr. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 185,671 11 Claims. (Cl. 46149) This invention relates to a doll and, more particularly, to a walking and sitting mechanism for the same.

Various types of doll walking mechanisms heretofore have been proposed and used. owever these mechanisms in general have been characterized by complexity of construction, large number of parts, difiiculty of as sembly and the need for unusual dexterity in manipulation. Indeed, the present trend is to provide mechanisms of such character in increasingly sophisticated forms so that the cost and complexity of walking and sitting mechanisms have constantly tended to rise.

It is a principal object of my present invention to provide a novel walking and sitting mechanism which is particularly inexpensive to make and install and which can be incorporated readily into a doll with standard parts instead of having to use parts that must be specially made for cooperation with the walking and sitting mechanism.

It is another object of my invention to provide a walking and sitting mechanism having a minimum of parts and parts that are of unusually simple configuration and construction so that they can be made and installed in a doll at a very low cost.

It is another object of my invention to provide a walking and sitting mechanism which requires neither a motor nor a kinematic connection between the two legs of a doll, whereby the cost of the mechanism and of its installation may be held to a minimum.

It is another object of my invention to provide a walking and sitting mechanism which makes. a doll particularly easy to handle in a fashion such as to obtain a desirable walking action. In this connection it should be observed that dolls often are used by young children who do not have the manual dexterity and coordination needed to perform the special and exact manipulation of a doll that is required by many walking mechanisms; on the other hand a doll embodying my present invention can be made to walk naturally, normally and satisfactorily with the use of very slight skill in the order of that which can be expected in a child as young as three.

It is another object of my invention to provide a walking and sitting mechanism which enables the doll to sit and yet to automatically assume a standing position ready for walking when the doll is raised.

It is another object of my invention to provide a walking and sitting mechanism which is rugged, durable and foolproof.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the mechanism hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective, partly broken away view of a doll constructed in accordance with my present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the hip end of one of the dolls legs, the same being shown with the leg in vertical position;

FIG. 3 is an interior view of the hip end of the leg, showing it as it appears after the dolls torso has been moved forwardly With respect to the leg during walka;

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FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but illustrating the leg in sitting position; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical scectional view through the hip joint of the doll shown in FIG. 1.

The walking and sitting mechanism of my present invention is of the type wherein the movement of the two legs of the doll is not mechanically correlated. That is to say, the two legs are not kinematically interconnected. In other words, each leg has a walking mechanism which is independent of that of the other leg, and the walking movement of the two legs is coordinated by the manner in which the doll is manipulated by the child, this movement, however, being made realistic by the nature of my novel walking mechanism.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 denotes a doll including my new walking mechanism. Said doll comprises a hollow torso 12 having leg openings 14 at the hips. These openings are inclined to the horizontal and converge downwardly as is conventional.

Said torso may be fabricated in any conventional fashion, as, for example, by molding. The material of which the torso is made is sufiiciently rigid to define walls for the openings 14 which walls are self-form-maintaining if the torso is not appreciably stressed whereby these openings can serve as sockets for the reception of the hip ends of legs. Preferably, moreover, the material of which the torso is fabricated has a low surface coefficient of friction, a suitable material for this purpose being, by way of example, a polyethylene synthetic plastic.

The torso includes the usual head (not shown) and the usual arms 16 articulated at the shoulders.

The doll further comprises a pair of legs 18 of any standard configuration. In accordance with the instant invention said legs are very light in order to enable them to be operated by the simple walking mechanism which will be described hereinafter. To this end the legs desirably are made with thin walls, for instance, by the fabrication process of blow molding. In addition, the legs are formed of a material which, like that of the body, has a low surface coefficient of friction. Excellent results are obtained where the legs are formed of the same material as the body, to wit, polyethylene, whereby at the hip joint one slippery surface slidably rotates on another surface of like quality.

The hip end of the leg is formed with a circumferential transverse groove 20 terminating on one side at the external, i.e., outer, side surface of the leg and on the other side at a head 22 located within the interior of the dolls body. The groove 20' has a nice sliding rotatable fit with the wall of the opening 14 and the surface of the groove adjacent the head 22. sliding against the inner surface of the torso around the opening 14. Thus, although the leg can not shift with respect to the body in a direction axially of the opening :14, it can be turned easily relative to the opening about said axis. The static and kinetic friction between the grooves and the walls of the openings is so small due to the use of the slippery surfaced plastic that, despite their light weight, the legs automatically will assume a standing (vertical) position when the feet of the doll are clear of a supporting surface.

To facilitate assembly of the legs to the body, each head 22 is formed with a short helical groove 24. The head end of this groove is first engaged with the wall of an opening 14 when a leg is to be mounted on the torso and the leg then is turned in the direction of inclination of the groove to complete the assembly.

The mechanical elements of the walking and sitting mechanism are the same for both legs hence only one of them will be described. There are only four such mechanical elements. These constitute a wishbone, a slider,

an elongated tensed resilient strand, e.g. a rubber band, and an anchor. The upper end of the strand is secured to the anchor at an elevated site in the torso, preferably vertically above the center of the opening 14 and the lower end of the strand engages the wishbone through the medium of the slider. If desired the slider may be omitted and its function assumed by a portion of the strand; however the presence of the slider is useful to minimize friction at the point of engagement with the wishbone.

Referring more specifically to FIGS. 2 and 5 it will be seen that I have provided a wishbone 26 and an elastic strand 28. The wishbone is of extremely simple construction and consists simply of a single length of metal wire, e.g. steel wire, thin enough to be flexible but strong enough to hold a shape imparted thereto by bending operations. Essentially, the wishbone is a V-shaped member including twin reaches 30, 32 joined by a bend 34. The reaches desirably converge toward the bend. Preferably the reaches are substantially straight although I have found that the invention functions satisfactorily where the reaches are curved. However it is simpler although not necessary to avoid the provision of such curvature. Thus the radius of curvature of the bend is smfller than the radius of curvature of the reaches so that the wishbone basically has the shape of a U or a modified U, to wit, a V.

The wishbone also includes means for mounting the same on, i.e. for making the same fast to, the head 22 in such a position that when the legs are erect, that is to say disposed with their longitudinal axes substantially vertical, the bend 34 is in its uppermost (highest) position, pointing directly upwardly, so that at this time the bisector 35 of the angle between the reaches 39, 32 will, as Viewed in side elevation, be vertical and pass through the center of the opening 14.

Said mounting means desirably is of extremely simple and inexpensive construction and to this end merely may constitute integral hook-like extensions of the distal (remote from the bend) ends of the reaches 3%, 32. More specifically the mounting means for each reach comprises a short toe 36 in one piece with and extending at a substantial angle, e.g. 110, away from the lower (distal) end of such reach (see FIGS. 2 and 5). Said toe snugly passes through an opening in the head 22, there being two spaced openings one for each toe of each different reach 30, 32. Since the Wishbone is symmetrical in the preferred form of my invention, when the leg is erect these two toe-receiving openings are disposed in the same horizontal plane.

Each toe 36 extends through the thin head 22 from a point inside the torso but outside the leg to a point which is located within the interior of the leg. At this latter point the toe terminates in a branch 38 which is at a substantial angle, e.g. 110, to the toe and is roughly parallel to the head 22. Said branch also may be at an angle of about 90 to the affiliated reach. The branch 38 runs into a terminal section 4% which likewise is roughly parallel to the head 22, the section 40 being approximately perpendicular to the branch 38. Thus the lower (distal) end of each reach together with the toe and associated branch and terminal section form a twisted U-shaped hook portion the base of which extends through the head 22 and the legs of which lie on opposite sides of the head so as to prevent accidental disengagement of the reach from the head 22. The angular relationship between each section 40 and its associated branch 38 make accidental disengagement impossible.

It should be observed that simply for the purpose of obtaining sufficient torque to operate the walking mechanism the distance from the bend 34 to the center of the opening 14 should not be too small, good results being obtained where this distance is at least one-half inch and preferably one inch or more. Moreover I prefer to pro vide an acute angle between the two reaches, or in any 4 event, an angle not exceeding 9 0, whereby to secure the desired sliding action between the strand and wishbone which will be detailed at a later point in this specification.

The anchor for the strand may constitute any stationary member within the dolls body and by way of example is in the form of a horizontal cross bar 42 located in the upper section of the torso and having its ends supported by the shoulder ends of the arms.

Each of the two rubber bands 28 is trained over the bar 42 and extends downwardly therefrom. The lower end of each rubber band engages a different wishbone 26. Due to the angle between the reaches of the wishbone and to the presence of initial tension in the band the lower end of the band will, when the legs are in walking position, invariably slide up the wishbone to the bend 32. This sliding action is encouraged by a slider constituting an S-shaped connector 44 having one hooked end engaging the rubber band and the other hooked end coupled to the wishbone. The connector preferably is made of metal so that it will slide easily on the metal wire of the wishbone.

As long as the legs are in walking position, i.e. generally vertical, the bend 34 will be at an elevation which is above the horizontal location of both distal ends of the reaches, i.e. the toes 36. Hence regardless of whether a leg is vertical or is swung forwardly or rearwardly of its vertical position, but within the normal arc of walking, e.g. within 45 of vertical, the reach which at any given time is uppermost will slope upwardly from its distal end to the bend 34 so that the connector will remain at the bend. When the leg is swung forwardly or rearwardly from vertical position but while still within the normal walking arc the bend 34 will move to a level lower than that which it occupies when the leg is in vertical position and furthermore will move forwardly or rearwardly, as the case may be, of the position occupied by the bend when the leg is vertical. Any such downward forward or downward rearward movement of the bend 34 will lengthen and therefore increase the tension in the rubber band 28, that is to say, will increase the degree of stretch of the rubber band. Thus, when the force that moved the leg rearwardly or forwardly is released, the rubber band, by urging the bend 34 to its high central position, will restore the leg to its vertical position.

Advantage is taken of this action to create walking movement of the dolls legs. Walking is performed by tilting the doll slightly to one side thereby to lift one foot clear of the floor while allowing the other foot to remain in contact with the floor. The dolls torso then is moved forwardly causing the leg which is in contact with the floor to swing rearwardly with respect to the torso. This angular movement of the leg increases the tension in the rubber band connected to said leg.

Now the torso is tilted in the opposite direction to engage the foot of the other leg with the floor and to lift clear of the floor the foot of the leg which has been swung rearwardly of the torso. Upon disengagement of this latter foot from the fioor the tensed rubber band will swing the leg forwardly to slightly in front of vertical position and then back to vertical position. At the same time the torso of the doll is being moved forwardly so as to cause the other leg to be swung rearwardly with respect to the torso.

Accordingly by tilting the doll from side to side while moving the torso forwardly a realistic walking motion of the legs will take place.

It will be observed that by providing slick surfaces in sliding rotary contact with one another at the hip joint and by keeping the legs quite light I may employ rubber bands which require only a comparatively small effort to stretch. Hence a young child finds it easy to supply the effort necessary to stretch these bands while manipulating the doll in the manner described, and, moreover, the motion of the legs as they swing back to vertical is not rapid and jerky as it would be if a powerful rubber band had to be employed to overcome a high static friction at the hip joint and a high moment of inertia of the legs. In other words by reducing hip friction and the dead weight of the legs, an extremely natural motion of the Walking mechanism results.

Because the angle between the reaches is less than 90, when either leg is swung 90 from the vertical to sitting position as shown in FIG. 4 the bend 34 of the wishbone will move to a location that is lower than the distal end of one of the reaches. Hence this reach will be inclined upwardly from bend to distal end so that the connector 44 will slide upwardly along the reach to the toe. When this occurs there is removed from the leg the torque that tends to bias the leg to a standing, i.e. vertical, position and indeed the biasing torque thereupon will urge the leg to a horizontal position. This bias is comparatively weak because the length of the torque arm for urging the leg to a horizontal position (half the distance between the toes) is less than the length of the torque arm for urging the leg to a vertical position (the distance from the bend to the center of the opening 14). Moreover the torque which tends to bias the legs to sitting position is less than the torque exerted by the weight of the legs so that if the doll is lifted from sitting position the weight of the legs will automatically restore the legs to vertical position and thereby cause the connector 44 to slide back up to the bend 34. Nevertheless so long as the legs are in sitting position and the weight of the torso is permitted to rest on the hip ends of the legs no force is exerted tending to erect the legs; thus the doll, when placed in sitting position, will remain there so long as it is not disturbed, but will immediately and automatically assume a standing position ready to walk as soon as the doll is picked up.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a mechanism which achieves the several objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination with a doll having a hollow torso, a pair of hip openings and a pair of legs each of which is rotatably secured at its hip end to an associated hip opening, a different wishbone associated with each different leg, each wishbone being secured to the hip end of its leg and being located within the hollow interior of the torso, each wishbone including a pair of reaches connected by a bend and extending upwardly toward the bend when the leg is vertical, the bend being below the distal end of the then uppermost reach when the leg is horizontal, an elongated resilient strand, and means anchoring one portion of the strand at an upper portion of the torso, another portion of the strand being slidably connected to the wishbone, the strand being under tension between said portions.

2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the legs are constructed of a material having a low surface coeflicient of friction.

3. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the legs and torso are constructed of materials having low surface coefficients of friction.

4. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the legs are blow molded of a material having a low surface coefficient of friction.

5. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the legs are constituted of polyethylene.

6. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the legs are below molded polyethylene.

7. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the reaches converge toward the bends.

8. A combination as set forth in claim 7 wherein the angle of convergence is less than 9. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the wishbones are V-shaped.

10. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein sliders connect the strands to the wishbones.

11. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the strands are endless rubber bands.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,829,466 Winkler Apr. 8, 1958 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A DOLL HAVING A HOLLOW TORSO, A PAIR OF HIP OPENINGS AND A PAIR OF LEGS EACH OF WHICH IS ROTATABLY SECURED AT ITS HIP END TO AN ASSOCIATED HIP OPENING, A DIFFERENT WISHBONE ASSOCIATED WITH EACH DIFFERENT LEG, EACH WISHBONE BEING SECURED TO THE HIP END OF ITS LEG AND BEING LOCATED WITHIN THE HOLLOW INTERIOR OF THE TORSO, EACH WISHBONE INCLUDING A PAIR OF REACHES CONNECTED BY A BEND AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY TOWARD THE BEND WHEN THE LEG IS VERTICAL, THE BEND BEING BELOW THE DISTAL END OF THE THEN UPPERMOST REACH WHEN THE LEG IS HORIZONTAL, AN ELONGATED RESILIENT STRAND, AND MEANS ANCHORING ONE PORTION OF THE STRAND AT AN UPPER PORTION OF THE TORSO, ANOTHER PORTION OF THE STRAND BEING SLIDABLY CONNECTED TO THE WISHBONE, THE STRAND BEING UNDER TENSION BETWEEN SAID PORTIONS. 